Multilateral trade cooperation: what next?

This paper first briefly describes the role of the WTO and itshistory. It then lays out a simple bargaining model of internationalnegotiations, which can be used for understanding the Doha Roundof talks. Using this, we distil what we regard as the majorpotential explanations for the difficulties in these talks.We then discuss a number of the systemic questions that confrontWTO members. We suggest that the WTO should concentrate on marketaccess, rather than on promoting a development agenda or onfurther expanding its coverage to deal with regulatory issuesor with other domestic policies.